Careless Whisper
by elenwyn
Summary: She, er, she your girlfriend?" The young man's smile faltered, but only slightly, as he looked back at the bartender. "It's complicated." Sequel to "Bartender's Tale". Paire one-shot.


**A.N:** Sequel to "The Bartender's Tale". It would help if you read the first one, but I don't think it's necessary. Written for Ari, cause she asked :D Feedback is love!

**Warnings/Spoilers/Disclaimer: **I don't own Heroes, cause Paire would be unrelated if I did. Spoilers up to the end of Season 1. Canon!Paire too, which means incest. Also, lyrics belong to George Michael, not me :)

--

It had been a couple of weeks since the bartender's strange encounter with the Petrelli family, and he hadn't seen hide or hair of the Congressman's younger brother, or the golden-headed girl, either.

Of course, that hadn't stopped him from thinking about the two regularly, especially when he saw the Congressman on TV or in the paper. He'd think about their unfortunate circumstance, and how their situation was a horrible one to deal with.

There'd been a report in the paper about a week ago that had caught his attention, it was about Nathan, and the girl, and it talked about how she'd been adopted as a baby, how overjoyed the politician had been when he'd found her a year ago, and how she was living in New York now.

Living in New York with her uncle, Peter Petrelli.

The man had been surprised; he'd heard of cases of GSA before and he guessed that's what was going on between them, and what the younger Petrelli had been babbling on about when he was inebriated.

But then again, something about the two when they were together struck him as _right_. It obviously wasn't, considering they were related, but they seemed to have such a strong connection that the bartender felt something must have gotten lost somewhere.

One night, as the man was locking up the bar, he swore he saw an image of them hand in hand, walking down the pavement. He did a double take; the vision had disappeared as quickly as it had come, and he was left frowning in confusion.

He sighed, placing the keys in his jacket pocket and walked home in the opposite direction; he couldn't seem to shake the two out of his thoughts.

--

After a few more days, the bartender had thought he'd successfully gotten rid of any kind of thought associated with the Petrelli family. The bar had taken in a good profit that week and, as it was Friday, he was in an exceedingly good mood.

…Until he spotted a dark haired man and a young blonde, making their way furtively into the bar and into a quiet booth in the corner.

_Oh, God_, he thought, _here we go again._

He finished serving his current customer, watching as Peter made his way to the bar, ironically, seating himself on the exact same stool he had been in when he'd been making his drunken confessions.

_Shit. If this isn't an awkward situation, I'll eat out._

He saw the younger Petrelli raise an eyebrow at him and nodded, making his way over slowly and trying to act nonchalant.

"What'cha wanting, Mister?"

"Two sodas, please."

He could tell Peter was studying him closely, as if trying to work out – "Sorry, do I know you?"

"Er," The bartender considered his options. He'd been willing to bet a million bucks on the odds he'd never see a Petrelli in the flesh again, but now there were not only one, but _two_ in his bar, potentially carrying on a not-so-innocent – not to mention incestuous - relationship, he was going to rethink that bet.

He was pretty sure he enjoyed this scenario much more when the guy in front of him had been drunk.

"Can't say you do. I've got a familiar looking face, y'see."

"Ah," Peter smiled lightly and pushed the required fee along the wood of the bar, turning sideward to glance back at the blonde in the booth.

The bartender decided to be brave; he wanted to find out if what he _thought_ was going on, actually _was_ going on.

"She, er, she your girlfriend?"

The young man's smile faltered, but only slightly, as he looked back at the bartender, eyes filling with a deep emotion the man couldn't – or didn't want to – place, "It's complicated."

He let out a genuine burst of laughter, complicated wasn't the word he'd have used, "Yeah, I've heard that before." His eyes narrowed, "Not too complicated though, otherwise you wouldn't be here, am I right?"

"Well I –"

"Peter! This song; come and dance with me!"

The dark haired man was cut off, the blonde having gotten up from her seat and moving across the room to him, smile bright and eyes glittering, one hand extended to grasp his.

Peter chuckled, and the bartender noticed his attention had been completely taken by the girl. He watched as the man shook his head and stood, leaving the two glasses full on the bar. He let her lead him onto the small, wooden space in the middle of the room, where a very small number of couples were also dancing.

The bartender contented himself with wiping dry newly-clean glasses, his eyes half on the dancing couple all the while. To an outsider, they looked just like any other couple in the bar that evening. The dim, musky environment enveloped them as they moved across the floor, her arms wrapped around his neck and his around her waist, pressing her to him. The girl's height meant that her head fit comfortably on Peter's shoulder, and every now and again he would press gentle kisses to her hair, murmuring to her quietly.

"_I'm never gonna dance again; guilty feet have got no rhythm.  
Though it's easy to pretend, I know you're not a fool."_

As the words from the speakers reached the bartender's ears, he stopped what he was doing and looked at the couple, really _looked_ at them.

She was clinging to Peter as though she couldn't bear to let him go, eyes tight shut, and he was holding her as close as he could, hands running through her blonde locks.

As the music continued, the man saw the girl's body shudder, as if holding back tears. Immediately, Peter bought her fact up to meet his, stroking her cheek with a tenderness the man hadn't seen in a long time, before kissing her ardently, in full view of the entire bar.

It was at that point the bartender had to look away, feeling the need to give the couple their privacy. His heart was filled with such sadness for the two of them, having to pretend their lives away, only able to show affection within the company of strangers.

Later, when the couple returned, the bartender told them drinks were on the house, and that they were welcome to come back anytime they wished.

The girl gave him a dazzling smile of thanks before letting the young Petrelli lead her away, and in that moment, he saw exactly why Peter had fallen for her.

They couldn't choose who they fell in love with, just as they couldn't choose their family. And, the bartender thought, finally locking up much later into the night, if he was going to hell for giving them that little bit of anonymity, so be it.

He'd rather let them dance like that then know of the suffering it caused them to be apart and besides, he'd never much fancied heaven in the first place.


End file.
